Christopher J Osborne

Exakta RTL1000

Exacta RTL1000 with Meyer-Optik Oreston 50mm f/1.8 lens mounted Exacta RTL1000 detail Exacta RTL1000 rewind crank

The Exakta RTL1000 was produced from 1969 to 1973. It was made after the Exakta business was acquired by Pentacon, the East German company responsible for the Praktica line of cameras, and there is a lot of Praktica DNA in this camera. In fact some might say that this is really just a Praktica with the M42 screw lens mount replaced with an Exakta bayonet lens mount. A such most Exakta collectors don’t really regard this as a proper candidate for their Exakta collections!

I bought this camera mainly just as a piece of personal nostalgia. My very first SLR camera was an Exakta RTL1000… I remember buying it off a work mate of my Dad’s at the age of about 14. I managed to find a manual for this camera on-line, but even with the manual this camera is fiendishly complicated to operate. The fact that this camera is missing a small plastic disk with an indicator mark from one of the dials on the metering finder doesn’t help, but even so, I can’t imagine how I ever managed to get this camera to work at the age of 14!